Monthly Archives: January 2016

Are you finding that things are now starting to crank up again as we head into 2016? Did you make any New Years Resolutions or decide on any goals or dreams that you want to achieve this year?

Even though it is only two weeks into the new year, I have already started working towards achieving my goals. Like so many people at the beginning of the year, who are pumped up and enthusiastic going into the new year, we set goals and New Years resolutions that we wish to achieve, however as the weeks past our enthusiasm reduces or disappears all together, life gets in the way and when we get to the end of the year we have not achieved what we wished to. This year I plan to achieve my goals and I invite you to join me. How is this year going to be different to other years? I have started this year differently!

At the end of 2015 I sat down and took stock of the year that was coming to a close through Karen Knowler’s New Year Ritual. There is so much to this process that I highly recommend it. For the purpose of this post, part of what I looked at was what goals and desires I had at the beginning of 2015 and what I had achieved. If I had not achieved these goals or desires why not. This process was about honesty, not about making excuses but being really honest with myself as to why I had achieved the goals or why I had not. By being truly honest I could then learn from this – what had helped me and what had hindered me. For instance one of my goals was to run the 25km trail run from Woodford to Glenbrook in the Blue Mountains on 30th June in under 3.5hrs. I achieved this in 2.52hrs, even though my training had not gone according to plan. I had had about 6 – 8 weeks off where I could not run the distances I needed due to muscle issues around my T7 vertebrae interfering with my breathing – you kind of need to breath when you run :). To read more about my achievement. So why did I think I achieved this goal even with so much time off towards the end of my training? Yes, I had employed a personal trainer to put together a program that I then followed and which was updated every 6 weeks, however that was not the reason. I could have googled training plans for this type of run, there are plenty out there. The reason why I achieved my goal was that I was accountable to someone. My trainer, Rebekah, called me every week to see how I was going, discuss any challenges and celebrate my achievements. If I had not been accountable, I know that in those challenging 6 – 8 weeks where I was unable to run any distances, I would have just given up. So for me, having accountability is SO important if I wish to achieve my goals.

Since coming back from my holidays in Adelaide, I have on a daily basis been choosing 3 priorities to focus on and entering them into them into an app called Commit to 3. These tasks have ranged from personal things to do, to doing some exercise or something for my business. I can then tick off each task as it is completed. The reason why this is more powerful than using a piece of paper to jot down your 3 tasks for the day or putting them on your to do list (which always grows and rarely gets shorter), is that you can involve family, friends or colleagues. You now have an inbuilt accountability system, as they receive advise of your tasks for the day and then receive advise as you tick each one off. Who wants to finish the day not completing their tasks when friends, family or colleagues have. As I mentioned above, accountability was one of the reasons why I was able to achieve my trail running goal. In the short time that I have been using this, I have found that if I loose focus through the day on my tasks, when I receive a message from my partner saying she has ticked off one of her tasks, it has helped me re focus and come back to what is really important for the day. If you would like to know more, Michel Kripalani, in this You Tube clip, chats about how important accountability is and how he developed Commit to 3.

Another habit that I have started this year is setting the alarm for 5am – yes 5 o’clock in the morning, even on the weekend and getting up to do The Miracle Morning. This is a hour long practise that has been incredible, involving affirmations, reading inspirational material, journaling, visualisation, meditation and exercise. The first day that I started, I almost hit the snooze button as I had had a late night. I am so glad that I did not. I got up and by the end of the hour I was energised, centred, positive and peaceful, ready to start the day. What was even more amazing for me was that I felt centred the whole day and the monkey mind that I usually have, was turned down, way down. To have a day where I achieved my 3 tasks in a state of centeredness, all the while having a quieter mind was incredible. I was very excited going to bed that night, to then be waking up the next morning at 5am. How is that possible?

Having started the New Year in a very different fashion, knowing more about myself and what I need to support me in achieving my goals and my growth, I am feeling very positive and excited about 2016. This IS going to be a magical and amazing year and I am looking forward to the end of the year where I will be able to look back and say “WOW I really did achieve all of that”. I hope that you are inspired also to change the way you have been looking at your goals and working towards them (or not) and I would love to hear from you:

What support have you decided to put into place to achieve your goals and dreams?